Jack Wilshere, the Arsenal midfielder, also condemned the pitch, describing it as “shocking”. He added, “I think they wanted to stop us playing”, in the wake of his team’s fifth league defeat of the season.

But Ferguson, speaking to the Football Show on New York radio station, Sirius XM, dismissed Arsenal’s complaints by pointing to the quality of modern-day pitches.

“I don’t think the pitch had anything to do with it.” the United manager said. “We were just the better team. The pitch was good. I’ve no problem with the pitch and it was a surprise to everyone that this was mentioned.

“I remember playing on pitches in my day with a furrow up the middle that was absolutely barren! But the state of the pitches today is fantastic, with all of the drainage. The care they get now is much, much better.”

Ferguson has confirmed that Park will fly to Qatar on Dec 28 to link up with South Korea for next month’s Asian Cup, which is being staged by the hosts of the 2022 World Cup.

Park could miss seven first-team games because of his international commitments. The former PSV Eindhoven player admits he is torn between club and country as the tournament begins to loom on the horizon.

“I have mixed feelings about the Asian Cup,” he said. “At the moment, I am playing with confidence, so I feel a bit strange about going. But I am always happy to join my national team. Even without me, Manchester United have enough players to keep winning, so I will concentrate on the national team and then focus on United.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal’s players have claimed that United were “lucky” to score their winning goal and insisted that they are the best team in the Premier League.

“We just didn’t get as much luck as United did,” said Wojciech Szczesny, the Arsenal goalkeeper. “With just a little bit more luck we could have got something out of the game and we’re still confident we are the top side in the Premier League.”

The recent evidence hardly supports that claim. Monday’s 1-0 defeat was Arsenal’s 10th in their past 11 matches against Manchester United or Chelsea and they have not finished above either of their two main rivals for five seasons.

Arsenal, though, believe that Park was fortuitous with his decisive 41st-minute header. “They probably had more chances to score but I felt the goal was pretty lucky,” said Szczesny. “I don’t think Park actually meant to head the ball. It just hit him on the head and went into the top corner.

“They are beatable and I think if we had a little more focus up front we could’ve scored a couple of goals. They had the bit of luck and it worked for them.”

Andrei Arshavin, the Arsenal forward, added: “We didn’t deserve defeat. I think Manchester United had more luck than us during the game. If it wasn’t for a fortunate bounce at the end of the first half, we would have gone in at 0-0 and the second half would have been easier.”

United are now two points clear at the top of the Premier League table with a game in hand, but Arsenal remain bullish about their ability to close the gap.

“There is no time to be melancholy or sad,” said Arshavin. “The championship is very interesting this year and nothing has been lost.”

One positive for Arsenal was the performance of Szczesny, who now hopes that he can displace Lukasz Fabianksi as the club’s regular goalkeeper. “I didn’t feel nervous at all,” he said. “I’m the reserve keeper and I have to take every chance I get.

“We feel we can beat pretty much everyone, that we can recover and be back in the race. We don’t get too down. We’re still very confident.”

Nicklas Bendtner, meanwhile, is under fresh pressure about his future after being told by Denmark coach Morten Olsen that he needs regular football. “If he’s not playing for Arsenal we cannot use him,” said Olsen.